Page 31 of Changed Plan

“Damn. Why’d you ever leave?”

“I couldn’t bear the thought of never being trapped in an airport during a blizzard.”

“Well, there’s one thing you can’t get in Florida.” He takes my hand, and I let him. “I bet the floors were a lot less sticky in the Christian bookstore than in the theater.”

“Maybe upfront. That back room, though . . . you know some of those bibles are illustrated, right?”

“Ewwww, stop.” I’m laughing too hard to come up with a response to that. He wins.

I pull him to the window at the next gate. The snowflakes are sparse, but they’re still the big, fluffy ones that look like puffs of cotton candy drifting down. “Isn’t it wild that something so beautiful can cause so much trouble?”

“Plenty of devastation is caused by beautiful things.” He steps behind me and lightly squeezes my shoulders. “Anything can be dangerous in the wrong circumstances. Calm water is peaceful. Raging rivers rushing out of their banks are terrifying. Lightning far away from any structures? Stunning. A campfire or a flickering candle is great. Wildfires, not so much.”

“Too much of a good thing is never good.”

He leans down to kiss my neck. “But there are some things you just can’t get enough of.”

“What if it turns out to be bad for you?”

“What if it doesn’t?”

A fat snowflake tumbles in slow motion, hovering so close to the glass it looks as if I could reach out and touch it. Its edges are illuminated by the lights on the airport. I stare at it in awe, wondering why, out of all the people in here, I’m the one who gets to see this uniquely beautiful creation, like it’s falling just for me.

“Wow,” he whispers. “It’s barely moving. It’s like seeing it through a microscope the way the lights highlight every detail.”

He sees it, too. We are looking at the same unique snowflake.

“Quit staring at my snowflake.”

“You quit staring at my snowflake.”

When we laugh, it swirls away like it’s been blown by our breath. We should’ve held it for just a little longer. I know that isn’t real, that we had no control over how long the snowflake would stay. All we could do was enjoy it while it lasted.

“Do you think blizzards will always remind you of me?” I ask.

He turns me around to face him. “Yes, but I won’t forget you in between the storms either.”

Stop lighting sparklers in my core. You did enough of that earlier.

“Thanks. I don’t think I’ll forget you anytime soon either.”

“That might be the nicest thing you’ve said to me since we met.”

“Oh, please. I offered you a back massage earlier.”

“And I’m looking forward to it, but if I thought forgoing it would keep you from forgetting me, I would.”

“I’d just find another reason to put my hands on you.”

He wraps an arm around my waist and yanks me forward until our bodies are pressed together. His other arm snakes around me, and he holds me firmly. The earnest gaze of his hazel eyes is all at once too serious for playful comebacks.

“We’ll both fly to Florida tomorrow and return to our separate original plans, but I want to make some plans that include you, too. I know your life feels uncertain right now. So does mine, but I want to know you better. Make room for me, Darby. Don’t shut me out when we leave here.”

I can hardly swallow around the lump forming in my throat. This is so much raw honesty, and I wasn’t prepared for it. I want to see him again, too, but I don’t know how to do this without sarcasm and flippancy. And I can’t make use of those things when he’s looking at me like this.

This is some kind of moment of truth and we’re not in an appropriate place for it and it feels like an ambush. Like he has me surrounded. Technically, he does. His strong arms surround my waist, and his soulful eyes have me completely fucking captive.

I nod. “Okay.”

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